


Miles

by AMillionYearsForWhat



Category: Pentagon (Korea Band)
Genre: Long-Distance Friendship, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Nothing sexual though - Freeform, They're not legal in this, but for now, eventual angst, long distance, maybe other Pentagon members in future chapters - Freeform, omegle au, so hard to tag without spoiling, those two!!!, time jumps
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-28 04:46:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13263987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMillionYearsForWhat/pseuds/AMillionYearsForWhat
Summary: AU where Yuto and Hyunggu meet on Omegle and become friends until the end - no matter how close it comes.[small Hiatus]





	1. audience

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this fanfiction idea for so many years now, and no ship to actually write it with. So here's this because I'm Yuki trash. Thank you so much for reading!!! I appreciate any feedback <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unrealistic Japanese high school pep rallies, but this _is_ an AU, so anything goes. Just use your imagination uwu!!!

**You both like dancing.**

Hyunggu analyzed the other video feed on his computer screen, noticing everything he could about the boy staring back at him. His hair was black, like his own, and his eyes were like tinted windows, like he was nervous. Hyunggu glanced at the clock - 23:05, it told him, which wasn’t bad. It wasn’t like he would be up all night. Thankfully, school was about to go on break, so curfew was a little more lenient than it had been weeks earlier. 

“Oh no, are you going to challenge me?” Hyunggu grinned, finally greeting his “stranger”.

A puzzled, but blushing face stared back at him before typing _“Korean?”_

Hyunggu nodded slowly, “Why do you look so confused?”

A soft voice goes to speak, but quickly stops. Stranger is typing...  
_“Japanese.”_

“I'm not fluent at all, but I know what you are saying,” he says at last, gently, almost like it’s a secret. His voice is tinged with embarrassment, afraid of mispronunciation. 

“I always wanted to go to Japan!” Hyunggu nearly jumps out of his chair, “Where are you from?”

“Nagano,” he replies, “I’ve always wanted to go to Korea, as well.”

“I live in Busan! Many people come here to visit. You should come!”

“I can’t yet,” the stranger sighs, “I’m only 15 right now, and my parents are always too busy for us to travel.”

“I’m 15, too, so I’m not seeing Japan any time soon,” Hyunggu gives a small smile, and it makes the stranger’s head rise a little, a grin on his lips. 

“What’s your name?”

“Adachi Yuto,” the boy does a small bow, “and you are?”

Hyunggu opens his mouth to speak, but quickly shuts it, his eyes lighting up. He holds up his index finger and opens a new tab, typing quickly.

 

In very rough Japanese, he finally says, “My name is Kang Hyunggu. Pleasure to meet you.”

Yuto beams and lifts his hands to give a small, gentle round of applause. 

“The pleasure is mine,” he replies in Japanese, causing Hyunggu’s mouth to open slightly, trying to piece together his broken knowledge of the language. 

“It’s okay,” Yuto says before Hyunggu has a heart attack, “I can teach you.” 

The other boy’s face melts into a giant smile, his eyes crinkled by the display of happiness, “I’m thankful! And I will help you continue learning Korean. Maybe I can teach you a dance!”

Yuto realizes that he had connected with Hyunggu through the “dancing” tag; he had hoped to ask for advice on a dance he had to learn.

“I meant to ask,” he hesitates, “my baseball team has to take part in a pep rally at school. I can’t dance, and they want us to do an individual freestyle-”

Hyunggu claps his hands as he laughs, and Yuto is taken aback at first, “Why are you laughing?” 

Hyunggu nodded and smiled at Yuto, his eyes crinkled again, “I just created a freestyle last week. It fits with any song in four-four time. It’s only a minute and a half right now, but we can extend it if we need to.”

Yuto sits in shock (maybe a bit of jealousy and admiration, too) before he finally speaks back up, “It only has to be 45 seconds. I, uh. Can I see?”

Yuto doesn’t know the song that Hyunggu plays, but it sounds like a cover of a song he remembers from the radio. Hyunggu pushes back his laptop for Yuto to see his entire body. Yuto takes in Hyunggu - his white t-shirt, black pajama shorts, purple socks with white hearts on them - and soon, the life starts pouring into his body. He moves effortlessly, the most fluid Yuto had ever seen someone. He gives a smile as he rolls his head, his eyes shut. When he does four spins on his toes, Yuto almost instinctively goes to complain about his inability to twirl like that, but he’s too in awe to actually speak. He was so mesmerized that he hadn’t actually realized Hyunggu had finished, standing there with his hands on his hips, “So? What do you think?”

_That was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life._

“It was good!” He blurts, immediately regretting that he had only called it ‘good’. Yuto was sure he had offended him, but Hyunggu just beamed back at him. “You think so?”

“Yeah, but there’s a problem.”  
“Yeah?”  
“No one else could ever look better than you doing that, especially not me.”

Hyunggu maintains his smile, but it somehow deepens in his eyes. Yuto could have sworn he noticed a blush crawling into Hyunggu’s cheeks, but it could’ve just been from all the dancing. It had to have been. 

“You said you played baseball, so you must be somewhat athletic. Your stamina won’t be an issue. The moves aren’t the most complex, and some of the steps repeat throughout the song. It’ll be a piece of cake!” 

Yuto smiles.  
And he’s not entirely sure what he’s smiling for, but he’s happy. It feels like the surface of his skin is warm, almost a soft tingling. This mysterious euphoria came over him, and he couldn’t stop himself from letting out a soft laugh.

Then the video feed is cut, and he can’t see Hyunggu anymore. At the bottom of the screen: **Stranger has disconnected.**

Like that, he was gone.  
Quickly, Yuto glanced at the top corner where it said 18,000 people were online.  
How many of those would be on the video chat for “dancing”?  
He had hoped not many.

Thirty minutes and a minimum of ten penises later, Yuto still hadn’t found Hyunggu. He couldn’t give up. _Find him_ , he thought, _and don’t let him go again._

By the time Hyunggu appears on his screen, it’s 2:30 in the morning. Yuto looks awful from the despair of trying to find his lost connection. He had almost cried - from frustration, of course - and there were red spots from where he had rested his chin on his hand, tapping his fingers against his cheek impatiently. 

“Yuto?”

Yuto had never looked up so quickly, his bones losing a bit of their ache. “Hyunggu. I thought I’d never find you again.”

“I was looking for you for so long. I kept hoping I’d see you, but I only had penises popping up on my screen,” he groaned and blinked as though his eyelids weighed a ton.

“I’m glad to see you,” Yuto admitted, more sheepishly than he intended, “can we make sure this doesn’t happen again?” 

**Stranger is typing...**

“My Skype is yutoimnida98”

Hyunggu would’ve laughed, but he’s too occupied with the thought that Yuto had been just as worried as he was. Hyunggu had looked for him, and he looked for Hyunggu, too. They agreed to talk on Skype, and Yuto felt himself lose a bit of composure. He gently lifts his laptop and places it on his bedside table, crawling in bed with his lamp still on. Hopefully he won’t question it.

\--

The clock now said 4:52, and it felt like they had been talking for years.

“Yuto, you’re going to fall asleep. At least turn off your light so you don’t run the bill up,” Hyunggu whispers. Yuto doesn’t dare open his eyes; there’s no way he can admit to being afraid of the dark. He hasn’t told anyone, but Hyunggu? Absolutely not. 

“I don’t feel like reaching over,” he lied, gulping down his lies and pretending to fall back asleep.

It gets quiet until he hears Hyunggu let out a small sigh.

“Hey, Yuto?” 

“Yeah?”

“Something weird happened earlier, and it’s never happened before.”

Yuto arched an eyebrow, waiting for Hyunggu to finish his thought.

“When I dance, I usually feel like I’m the only person in the room, like I’m alone with the music. It wasn’t like that this time.” 

“Oh,” Yuto’s features softened, his voice becoming gentle when he asks, “what was different?”

“I wasn’t alone. I felt you there. Usually, when I dance, I block everyone out so I can dance better. I didn’t block you out. You were there, watching me dance, and it was fine. It was... It was amazing. It was my first time feeling like I had an audience.

Maybe it’s because I finally have an audience worth letting in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! You can harass me about slow updates at uwujunhao on twitter!!! uwu happy reading!


	2. Misunderstanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we pretend this isn't a month and a half late? That'd be cool. Thanks!

When Yuto wakes up, Hyunggu’s on his screen, cheeks slightly puffed out and small pout on his lips. Hyunggu’s face is softly glowing in the small amount of sunrise allowed through his window. The last thing he remembers is Hyunggu laughing at him for mispronouncing a word, apparently making him sound completely ridiculous. The smile made its way into Hyunggu’s eyes, and Yuto couldn’t stop from smiling back. And now he’s watching the other boy sleep.  
Now Yuto checks his phone, quickly realizing that he would be late for school. He hurries to put his uniform on, cursing himself as he notices a stain on his shirt, tossing it in his hamper. He’s digging through his closet for his back-up shirt when he notices a yawn in the background. 

“Well, good morning to you, too.”

In any other circumstances, Yuto would’ve hid, slammed his laptop shut, run out the door topless if he had to. The problem wasn’t that Hyunggu had just seen Yuto’s back.

It was that he had left his clean shirt on his bedside table - beside the laptop. 

Yuto nearly chokes on nothing, mustering up his confidence before spinning around. He shoots Hyunggu a fake smile, though it isn’t fake when he notices Hyunggu’s even messier hair and sleepy eyes. “Gonna leave without even saying ‘goodbye’?” 

Yuto tries not to make it too apparent that he’s rushing to get clothed, embarrassed of his exposed body. He slips his button-up on, working on the buttons as fast as his fingers would go. “Your break started today. Mine didn’t. I still have a week to go!” 

Hyunggu fucking _giggles_ , and Yuto is honestly confused at how anyone can have a laugh so contagious. “I get home at 3. Will you be busy?”

Hyunggu shakes his head and moves two fingers away from his temple in a small wave, “I’ll be here waiting, Yuto-yah.” 

Yuto hesitates to close his laptop after the call ends, but he’s late. As if it helps his preoccupied brain. 

\--

“How is your dinner?”  
Hyunggu doesn’t fully explain how he gets away with eating dinner in his bedroom, but Yuto is silently grateful for the time together. “All finished now! Let me put my hoodie on real quick,” Hyunggu says into his earphone’s mic, before setting his bowl and laptop on his desk. Yuto’s only slightly able to see the navy blue hoodie that Hyunggu is slipping over his small frame.

“Ah, it messed up my hair!”  
Hyunggu pouts, and Yuto doesn’t have the heart to tell him it had been messed up all evening. 

“That song you danced to last night - who sings it? I’ve heard it before, but never that singer. It was amazing, and I can’t get it out of my head.”

“Oh. Uh. That was me singing. I covered it.”

Yuto doesn’t process what he says, his eyebrows raised as he replies, “Come again?”

“That was me singing,” Hyunggu blushes, subconsciously hiding his face behind the sleeve of his hoodie. 

Then Yuto thinks he’s found the perfect person.

“You’re good. Like, _really_ good. I don’t know how you can sing AND dance. That blows my mind.” 

“Do you have any special skills?” Hyunggu questions innocently, but by the look on Yuto’s face, he regrets it immediately. 

“I, uh, can rap. That’s not really a skill, though. It’s just kind of talking fast.”

“That’s not true!” Hyunggu interjects, an amazed “oh” shape on his lips, “do you just cover songs?”

“I’ve written my own before,” Yuto admits, immediately blushing, copying Hyunggu as he hides behind his long sleeves, “but they weren’t much good.”

Hyunggu holds his finger up, turning around to reach into his nightstand. The word “Kino” is on the back of his hoodie, and Yuto feels a tug in his chest. “Kino?”

Hyunggu speedily returns to his position, eyes wide, his palms on the bed in front of him, “How did you know that?”

Yuto allows himself to laugh, “I could be psychic!

Or it’s on the back of your hoodie.”

 

Hyunggu responds with a wide grin, clapping his hands together, “I thought you were really psychic! I was scared! ‘Kino’ is my nickname, especially when I’m dancing. It’s a stage name, I guess.”

“A stage name? So you dance regularly?”

“I’m hoping to make it someday; y’know, make it so I can sing and dance all day. My parents are, thankfully, very supportive, but they want me to get a proper education first.”

“Kino is a cute name. I like it. Would you mind if I called you it?”

A blush develops on Kino’s face, taking over his cheeks and ears, “That isn’t a problem with me. I like the way you say it.”

Yuto blushes next, hiding his face behind his hoodie sleeve, “It’s the name, not my accent. I assure you.”

“Your accent is cute, shut up,” Kino says, but his attention falls to his keyboard. Yuto’s unable to place what it is that Kino had just thought, though Yuto is sure he doesn’t want it to go through Kino’s brain again. 

“So your dance... and the song... those were both you, huh?” Yuto tries to hide his grin, but fails miserably as Hyunggu matches his expression.  
“Yeah, that was me.”  
“I didn’t realize I was friends with such a multitalented person!”  
“Oh, so we’re friends?” Kino’s lips form a soft “oh” on them - again. _He’s gotta stop doing that,_ Yuto thinks, eyes flickering to the boy’s soft mouth. 

“Of course we are! Don’t be ridiculous,” Yuto swallows hard and throws on a grin, though it’s distracted when Kino sticks his tongue out of the corner of his mouth as he beams at Yuto.

Then Yuto says, “You’re my jagiya!”

And Kino freezes, eyes wide and lips slightly parted, “I’m your what?”

All Yuto can do is try not to panic, but it doesn’t work well, “What did I say? What did I do? Kino, please don’t hate me. I don’t know what I said wrong.”

Kino has a gigantic blush on his face, but he gives a small smile, “You’ve called me your “honey”. I’m not offended or anything; I’m just sure you didn’t mean it like that.” 

A sharp gasp comes through Kino’s speakers, and Yuto’s quickly shaking his hands, “No no no no no, oh my gosh. I thought it meant a friend who is perfect? Closest?” 

“I don’t know how to say it,” Yuto buries his face in his hands from embarrassment, struggling to find the words, slipping into Japanese where he’s comfortable. 

“Danjjak?”  
Yuto looks up, giving Kino a small, embarrassed glance. Kino sighs, typing in another tab before very badly saying, “Ichiban no shin-yū?”

Yuto sighs gratefully, nodding as he bursts into laughter. Simple misunderstandings.


	3. rhythm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S BEEN SO LONG, AND I AM SO SORRY! Please don't hate me for this super sloppily written chapter. I promise I'll give a better chapter soon <3
> 
> Twitter: @uwujunhao

“Then you’ll slide to your knees. Make sure it’s smooth, though.” 

Hyunggu’s on his knees, his laptop angled down towards his floor to show his actions. Yuto attempts to slide to his knees smoothly, but instinctively places his hand on the floor to steady himself. Hyunggu opens his mouth to say something, but Yuto fixes himself quickly, “Sorry! That won’t happen again. Okay, now what?”

“Are you sure you’ve remembered everything to this point?” Hyunggu glances at the webcam, and Yuto can feel his stomach form tight knots. He’s secretly glad his webcam is too low quality to show the blush that creeps into his cheeks. Nodding, he stands up, sliding onto his knees - not nearly as cleanly as Hyunggu did, but better than the time before. 

“Alright, now you’re going to throw your arms across in front of you, then once they reach your sides, jerk your right shoulder forward to the beat of the song three times in a sort of popping motion.”

“Ah, H-Hyunggu, your hoodie is too dark. I can’t see the movement too well,” Yuto doesn’t mean to stutter, but he can’t help how Hyunggu’s name always gets caught in his throat. 

“Oh! I can take it off.”

And Hyunggu does, his arms above his head, the shirt riding up, his stomach right there-

And Yuto doesn’t know what to do.

“Give me one second; I’m going to use the bathroom,” before Hyunggu can say anything, Yuto’s left the room, his entire existence up for questioning. The immediate question is _what the fuck?_ , and the follow-up question is _what the actual fuck?_ He hadn’t checked Hyunggu out. He had just accidentally looked. He wasn’t gay, and he couldn’t ever look at Hyunggu that way. That’s his friend - only his friend. 

Or that’s what he told himself. 

\--

Yuto had gotten the order to go to bed and had just gotten comfortable when the question is asked.

“Why do you keep your light on?”

Yuto’s heart stops, ice shooting through his veins. He forgets to blink, lying there with his mouth slightly open. Yuto sneaks a glance at his laptop, and Hyunggu is getting into his bed. Hyunggu’s lamp is turned off, but his bedroom is right beside a streetlamp. The street light slips through his window, painting his face a soft orange. Yuto can make out the already messed up hair and the gentle, patient smile on Hyunggu’s face, a tightness forming in his chest when he notices the small dimple in Hyunggu’s cheek. “There’s no reason! Most times, I just don’t feel like getting back up and turning it off.” 

“But your lamp is on, Yuto? You could just reach over. No getting out of bed!”

“My lamp is broken!” Yuto lies, but he can tell when Hyunggu’s face softens that it didn’t work.

“You had it turned off earlier during the day, Yuto. Why won’t you tell me? Is everything okay?”

A sigh. “No, Hyunggu, it isn’t.”

Hyunggu’s head tilts slightly, his bottom lip puffed out, worry crossing his face, “What is it?”

“I’m... maybe... afraid of the dark.” 

Hyunggu blinks once. Twice.

“You said... what?” 

“Yeah, I’m afraid of the dark. Anyone I’ve ever told has made fun of me, so go ahead. I fully expect it.”

“No, that’s not at all what I was going to do. It’s totally okay.”

“I’ve heard it b- wait, what?”

Hyunggu just laughs, nuzzling his head against the pillow, giving Yuto a second for it to sink in. Then he just smiles. 

\--

When Yuto wakes up, his lamp is still on, and the sunrise is just peeking through his window. He turns off his light, letting his eyes adjust to the beautiful orange light. He peeks at Hyunggu, whose hair is messed up and has his hand resting under his chin, like an angel. Yuto isn’t sure why, but he just smiles. Then he gets out of bed, getting ready for school. They’ve made a schedule like this since Hyunggu is on break at school. Yuto wakes up for school, gets ready, and Hyunggu wakes up in the ten minutes before Yuto has to leave, making sure they get proper goodbyes before Yuto leaves. Neither of them mind, not even when they stay up till 3 AM teaching each other phrases or arguing over what food is the best. 

“It’s the last day before break, so it’s a half-day. You’ll be here when I get back, right?” 

“Yuto, don’t even act like I have any other friends!”

“Oh, so we’re friends?” Yuto mimics Hyunggu teasingly, flashing a bright smile his way.

“Of course we’re friends! I do have plans with a few of my classmates tonight, though, around 6:30. I should be home by 10!”

“Oh, so you _do_ have other friends?”

“It’s too early for this bullying, Adachi Yuto! Have a good day at school!”

Yuto rolls his eyes, but grins, closing his laptop without a second thought. 

\--

12 PM.

“Kino-yahhhh, I did the dance perfectly! The entire school thought I was so, so cool. It was all thanks to you!” 

Hyunggu lights up at the news, his teeth revealed through his gigantic smile, mindlessly hugging his laptop close to him, “Yutoda, I’m so proud of you! You worked so hard, and I wish I could’ve seen it. You’re on break now, too, so we can always talk!”

“Yutoda?” Yuto nervously stares into the webcam, “is that me?”

“Yeah! You’ve started calling me ‘Kino’, so I want to call you Yutoda... is that okay?” Hyunggu swallows hard, nerves quickly flaring up at the apparent disapproval.

“I love it, Kino-yah.”

“I love it, too, Yutoda.”

\--

4 PM.   
"Damn it," Yuto inevitably grins while Hyunggu makes high-pitched squeals at his own pun, "what the hell was that noise?!"   
His response came in the form of a snort and Hyunggu leaning his head to the side with laughter. "You're an idiot," Yuto says, but he doesn't mean it.  
\--

6 PM.  
"Do you ever accidentally stick your leg out of the blanket and get scared that something would grab you?"  
"Yeah, when I was a kid."  
"You don't anymore?"  
"No? Why would I?"  
"You don't know what's out there, Yuto!"  
"I sleep with my light on, remember? Anyway, what would grab me, Hyunggu? Like it matters that one leg is out? It wouldn't go 'oh, his leg's under the blanket, nevermind'. The blanket wouldn't stop it."  
"Don't you feel safer under a blanket, though?"  
"No! I literally don't feel any safer under a blanket than I do without one. What would grab me anyway?"  
"Don't be stubborn!"  
"It's called 'logical', Hyunggu," Yuto chuckled, "you should try it sometime."

\--

When he returns at 10 PM.  
"Kiss me, my Japanese prince,” Hyunggu drunkenly whispers into the microphone, hovering his lips in front of the webcam.  
"Hyunggu," Yuto softly replies, "you know I never do."  
"No," he hesitates as he leans back, burying his face in his palm as his fingers tangle in his hair, "you never do."

\--

1 AM.  
"Wake up, Hyunggu! Please wake up!"  
Hyunggu opens his eyes, but the sight of a scared Yuto makes him sit upright, "Yuto? What's wrong? Hey, hey, Toda, c'mon, I'm here now,"   
Yuto nuzzles his forehead against the webcam as Hyunggu’s fingers type what he wants to say. "Just hold me," he says out loud. Soon enough, the boy lies back down. His eyes close, and his chest starts to rise and fall at a certain pace. Hyunggu backspaces his secret from the text box.

\--

5 AM.

“Yuto, why are you awake?”

“It’s the first day of break, so I’m used to waking up early. Why did you keep your alarm set, Hyunggu?”

“I figured you’d wake up, so I wanted to keep you company until you fell back asleep.”

Yuto smiles at the camera, and Hyunggu notices he can barely see his smile in the dim room.

“Yutoda, what happened to your lamp?”

“I turned it off.”

“But the sun isn’t out yet; it’s still dark.”

Hyunggu sounded genuinely worried, wanting to come through the screen and hold Yuto, to protect him from the dark.

“I turned it off because the sun will be out soon, and I have you right here, so I’ll be fine!”

Hyunggu can feel a tear sting his eye, but wills it away, beaming brightly at Yuto as a response, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For making me feel special, making me feel alive.”

“You _are_ special, Kino-ya! I should thank you as well.”

“For what, Yutoda?”

“For saving me.”

Hyunggu just smiles, resting his head against his pillow as they both fall into silent rhythms.


	4. just one day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> soft soft soft soft soft! I live for some uwu yuki content. This is an old chapter with a lil bit of cuteness added on. I hope to revive this fic soon. The past few months, it's been really hard for me to write Pentagon stuff, which has been the cause for the hiatus. I don't know if anyone is still interested in reading this, but I really appreciate it if anyone does <3

“What if we had one day?” 

Yuto finishes the line in the book he’s reading and glances up at Hyunggu, “Hm?”

“Just one day. What if we could be together? I know we’re young, so traveling is out of reach. What if you just woke up and we were somehow magically together? Given that the universe hadn’t imploded from the improbability and that I would be functional enough to even make use of it - what would we do? We could go dancing - or we could go for a walk! Or we could go shopping. And we can eat everything in sight! Either way, one of us would be in a different country! You’d have to speak for both of us in Japan, obviously, but you’re a lot better in Korean than you think. You’d totally be fine! We could go to an aquarium or go to the library - we could go hiking or go to Build-A-Bear-”

“Build-a-Bear?” Yuto raises his eyebrows and tilts his head down a little, giving Hyunggu a once-over.

“Yeah, it’s a store where you get to make your own plush-”

“Kino-yah, I know what Build-A-Bear is. I just don’t think that, if I had a day with you, I’d like to spend it like that. Those are distractions.”

“Distractions from what?”

“From what actually matters, obviously.”

“Which is?”

Yuto can feel the next sentence get lodged in his throat, never making its way to vocalization. _Being with you,_ he thinks. He decides not to press his luck today.

“Nevermind, Kino. I just don’t think I could handle that day.”

He tries to ignore the disappointment that crosses Hyunggu’s face.

Yuto brings his eyes back to his book before he can see the full pout reach Hyunggu’s lips, but he can still feel the faint pain spread across his chest. 

\--  
“You’d think I’d be used to all the visitors, all these people taking photos of things I get to see everyday. It used to not bother me, but it does now for some reason.”

“Why’s that, Hyunggu?”

“All these tourists, but they’re never the right one.”

“The right one? You’re getting soft on me, aren’t you, Kino?” Yuto’s eyes light up, and Hyunggu wants to smile - he feels the smile coming, and it’s a happiness that spreads warmth across his body. But it doesn’t come. It’s just an _ache_ , and it hurts _so badly_ , and he shouldn’t say anything - he knows how this will end - but it might kill him to keep this secret a second longer. So he swallows down his fear, clears his throat, and prays to the gods that his voice doesn’t shake.

“I mean it, Yutoda.”

Concern rapidly replaces Yuto’s smile, and his eyes lose that little bit of sparkle. _Damn it,_ Hyunggu thinks, _I really shouldn’t have said anything._

“Hyunggu, what’s wrong? 

“Yuto, I am scared as hell to want you.”

Hyunggu brings his hands to his chest, fingers tightening around his sweater loosely. He taps his left hand to his chest in little nervous taps, but no matter how hard he fights the tears, they reach his eyes.

“But here I am - wanting you anyway.”

Hyunggu knows it was too sudden. Yuto’s mouth hangs open, no visible reaction at all. Hyunggu can feel his heart about to explode, but it’s _him_ \- since they met, it’s been him, and he can’t keep it down. He can’t lock his thoughts away every time Yuto yawns and it makes Hyunggu’s smile reach his eyes. He thinks back to an hour ago, when they were quizzing each other on grammar and vocabulary of each other’s language. Each question Yuto got wrong, he had to eat one spicy chip - some Japanese snack that Hyunggu had never heard of, but it made Yuto’s face so red. Hyunggu’s face was equally as red just from _laughing_ , and when Yuto choked on his sixth chip and pointed it out, it only made it funnier. Hyunggu really felt like he would explode.

He wishes he could see Yuto like that now - happy. Laughing. Unwillingly eating a spicy chip as a pseudo-punishment for missing a grammar question. The Yuto in front of him doesn’t move, and he hasn’t blinked since Hyunggu’s first tear fell. 

“Kino.”

Hyunggu’s heart has surely stopped by now. He can’t feel his chest - the ache is gone, but so is the ability to feel anything at all. He can’t decide whether he’s glad the pain is gone or not; it almost hurts worse, seeing Yuto like this, seeing him so emotionless. Like this rejection will mean nothing to him, and he’ll find a new friend. Hyunggu’s brain can’t keep up with his thoughts, and _oh, god_ , the pain is back and he just needs to hear-

“I could watch you for a single minute and find a million things I love about you.”

Yuto’s face is more red than the bag of chips he had eaten, but his gaze was so gentle - Hyunggu can feel the eyes staring, but he can’t bring himself to care. 

“To answer your question, Kino, I don’t think I could handle just one day. The days in which I’m with you are like Pringles. You can’t have just one.” 

Hyunggu doesn’t even process the joke fully before his biggest laugh leaves his mouth; there was no laugh brighter than this one, Yuto thinks, and he wants to hear it forever. 

“Kino, the one day I’m waiting for is the day that I won’t have to miss you anymore - the day I won’t wake up from a bad dream and turn to a screen for comfort. When I complain that my feet are cold, you won’t even hear it. You’ll just kiss my forehead like it’s the webcam and then proceed to get onto me for having my feet out from under the covers. When I’m with you, there’s no need to have the lamp on. You are the brightest light I could ever need. And one day, you’ll be on that stage - your name in lights, but there’s no need. You speak for yourself, and it’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. You’re the most incredible person, Hyunggu. So...

 

Here I am, I guess - wanting you, too.”

\-----

Yuto had already known that Hyunggu was an emotional person. He remembered how the other boy came home crying after one of his close friends announced that they were moving. He remembered how he cried after watching Train to Busan. Yuto was also crying, but he couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Hyunggu crying hysterically - a ridiculously cute pout on the Korean boy’s lips as the tears rolled endlessly down his face. _Don’t cry, Kino! It’s okay! Please please please don’t cry,_ he had told him, although all he could think of was how beautiful the boy was, even when he cried. Hyunggu cried when he first listened to the new The Rose album, calling Yuto immediately when he couldn’t make it all the way through “She’s in the Rain”. But when he ended up crying after Yuto’s confession, it was all he could do to keep from swimming to Korea to hold him tightly. He had already coaxed the boy into getting under his covers, to rest and focus on his breathing. “I’m not the best at singing. That’s you,” Yuto remembered saying, his head shaking in loving disbelief of the crying boy in front of him, “but I can try, if you want?” 

Hyunggu still sniffled, unable to stop himself from the late tears falling from his eyes. He choked back a sob, hiccups bumping in his chest. Yuto tilted his head back, blinking his eyes to will away the tears burning the rim. He knew they were happy tears, but the desperation in Hyunggu’s cries blocked those happy thoughts. Then Yuto did the most embarrassing thing of his life.

“I’m like TT, just like TT,” Yuto brought his hands up to his chest in sideways ‘L’s, mimicking the dance moves as well as he could while lying down, “ireon nae mam moreugo, neomuhae! Neomuhae!”

Yuto puffed out his cheeks and shook his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, halfway in an attempt to show off his aegyo and not have to face Hyunggu while doing it. A loud fit of giggles reached Yuto’s ears, and he opened one eye to see Hyunggu beaming up at him. The slightly younger boy tugged his blanket over him, snuggling against his pillow as the laughs refused to stop. 

It took twenty minutes for Hyunggu’s tears to dry and the mixture of sniffles and giggles to turn into soft breathing. It had been ten minutes since Hyunggu had fallen asleep, and Yuto was still watching him. His eyes followed the curve of his bottom lip, the soft rising and falling of his chest. He stroked the laptop screen where Hyunggu’s hair fell onto his forehead messily, simply hoping he could learn how it felt to hold his hand or kiss his cheek. 

_Someday, baby,_ Yuto silently promised him, closing his eyes, _We’re gonna make it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bully me on twitter @uwujunhao


End file.
